Malur Ramasamy Srinivasan: A nuclear scientist who advocated disarmament

After the first peaceful nuclear explosion at Pokhran in 1974, Srinivasan was one of the small group of scientists and technocrats who ensured that the country's nuclear sector achieved self-reliance

Malur Ramasamy Srinivasan, who dedicated his entire life to India’s nuclear programme, was in many ways an odd man out in the country’s nuclear establishment. He was an advocate of nuclear disarmament and focused on the peaceful use of nuclear power at a time when the popular view among the “hawks” was that India should build a nuclear arsenal as a deterrent.

 

Srinivasan, who died on Tuesday aged 95, was only 25 when he started to work with Homi Bhabha, the father of India’s nuclear programme. A mechanical engineer by background, with a doctorate in gas turbine technology, he helped